Inspiration Friday Party No. 4!

Giant Zucchini, Sneaky Parenting and No "Whine" Dinners!

Oh yeah? You just watch me tie those 3 things together!

We have some amazing neighbors around us! They are gracious and warm and dote on my kiddos. Directly across the street, we have neighbors whose daughter baby-sat for us up until recently when she had THE NERVE to go off to college! I told her it was highly overrated and really, didn't she want to stay and baby-sit for us until my kids were teenagers? She didn't go for it. But, we love her anyway and she has become like part of the family and I love getting texts from her hearing all about her latest college adventures. So far they are all tame!

Her parents have shared her with us and have also become an extension of our family and the other day they brought over

2 GIANT Zucchinis.
Is the plural of zucchini, zucchinis with an 's'
or is it still just zucchini?

Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini...

I thought I needed to type that out a few more times.

I only remembered to take pictures after I had already shredded the larger one but here is the smaller one just to give you an idea of their massive proportions.

Seriously, my arm hurt after shredding these up!

Now, what is the first thing you think of when you see these?
Zucchini Bread, right?

Well, I thought that too and I have enough in my freezer now for all of you to get some for Christmas, but I wanted to see if I could find another recipe to give us some variety.

So, I turned to my trusty kitchen helper...

My parents sent me off to college with this book and some Student Loans. And although I didn't crack it open while I was actually in school, it has since become a staple in my home.

It has everything from how to pick fruits and vegetables, to how to do laundry and get out stains, as well as tips for dealing with illness and injury and everything in between.

It didn't tell me how to keep my son from putting Legos in his nose.
 But, it did, however, have this recipe!

Soft Zucchini Cookies

Doesn't that plate remind you of a Zucchini?

1/2 C. shortening

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 C. brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 C. peeled, coarsely grated zucchini

2 1/2 C. flour

2 C. quick-cooking oatmeal

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

1 C. chopped nuts (optional)

1 C. raisins

And then I threw in a whole bunch of chocolate chips too for good measure!

Cream shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until fluffy; stir in zucchini. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add to zucchini mixture. Stir in oatmeal until well blended. Add nuts and raisens, AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS! You know you want to!

Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 F for 12-15 minutes.

This recipe is particularly appealing to me because of my deep desire to have my kiddos develop healthy eating habits and to get some vegetables in them come hell or high water! They have their favorite things like carrots and tomatoes and sweet potatoes and I continue to put new things in front of them ALL the time. But, aside from force feeding them, which I have heard doesn't usually go over very well, I want to know that they are getting those vitamins and nutrients even if they don't know it.
So, I have become a SNEAKY PARENT!

And, this book really started it for me...

I found it at TJ's for $6 and knew that I had it in me to be Deceptive.
Just about food mind you!

There are some really great recipes in here and my kids have really liked (most of) them. But, what this book has really done for me is help me to figure out ways to incorporate vegetables into our favorite Family Recipes. It is surprisingly easy to do! Like adding pureed spinach to your favorite pasta sauce, or sneaking in Flax Seed to your breading mixture for homemade chicken nuggets or fish sticks. I have even been known to buy baby food when I haven't had time to puree anything and mix that right in! My favorite thing to do is to add Pureed Sweet Potatoes or Butternut Squash to a good 'ol box of Mac-n-Cheese!

The colors blend in perfectly with the tones of the "cheese" or whatever that packet of orange colored stuff is. I know, I know, there are other ways to make mac-n-cheese that are healthy and not processed, but I have tried all the others and I'm not fooling my kids. They get this box stuff as a treat and so, I do the best I can with what I got! They still see vegetables on their plates and are encouraged to try new things, but now I feel better if what started on their plates at the beginning of dinner is still there at the end!

What is really Inspiring to me, is to see how well my Sister's kids eat! Are you guys tired of the mushy-gushy sister love?

Well, TOO BAD!

Heather was recently asked to write an article for

Food on the Table about how to get your kids to be less picky!

(We don't know this little boy! My sister bought him and I borrowed him! Seriously though, she bought the image. She owns him so we can make fun of him for being picky!)

Her kids are amazingly adventurous in their eating habits and she has done a fabulous job of introducing new foods to them. Not only that, they both like to get in the kitchen and cook too!

I encourage you to go over and read her great article

"No Whine Wednesday".

So, what is Inspiring you today? Maybe you tried out a new recipe too! Maybe you showed some great display of Deception towards your family! Oh wait, never mind. I don't want to know! But, did you create a new Fall Vignette in your home? Did you gain a new insight into your family or your faith this week and post about it? If you posted it, I want to see it!

So, LINK UP! And don't forget to visit the other posts you see linked here!

1. Add your Permalink to your entry but not your General Blog Address. To get your Permalink, click on the title of the blog post you are wanting to submit and copy and paste the address into the URL box. You will also have to add your address but it will not be visible to anyone else.

2. Do not try and Link up until you have actually published that particular post on your blog.

3. Please link back to the host blog, Southern In My Heart, so that those who visit your blog will be able to find some wonderful Inspiration from everyone else!
4. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about my Inspiration Friday party!
I'm also keeping the par-tay train rolling along by joining up with these parties this weekend.
Friday Potluck
Foodie Friday
From this Southern Girl at Heart,
Vanessa